


Sosban Fach

by bryar6



Category: Howl Series - Diana Wynne Jones, Howl's Moving Castle - All Media Types
Genre: Bonding Time, Character Study, Gen, Getting to Know Each Other, Howl is Welsh and overdramatic, Light Angst, Oneshot, leans towards bookverse, light fluff, pre-book 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 20:53:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29890386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bryar6/pseuds/bryar6
Summary: In which Calcifer gets to know the wizard he's bound to.Or, Calcifer accidentally starts bonding time as a diversion and is a little softer than a proper fire demon should be.
Relationships: Calcifer & Howl Pendragon
Kudos: 6





	Sosban Fach

**Author's Note:**

> Featuring none other than "the saucepan song" [Sosban Fach!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvL8rTpZELc) I had a late night thought of Howl teaching Calcifer the song because he can't have just picked it up out of thin air, now could he. This was written as a practice for myself to get to know the characters a bit better before breaking into longer fics but I took joy from it still. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Calcifer nestles deep into the logs tossed crookedly on his small grate, enjoying the way the wood pops and the smoke rises in thick plumes that roll off the charred wood. He takes a moment to feel out the structure around him, humming with his and Howl’s combined magic keeping the slapdash creation intact. It skims over the ground (Calcifer’s own idea, as he rather likes the thought he still gets to float around and Howl had of course loved the flair) and the portal doorways are somewhat vague senses to him as if a curtain blocks the outside off from his consciousness. But all is peaceful and well no matter what angle Calcifer checks. 

The castle is quiet but for a low hum from Howl’s form hunched over a series of chalked figures etched onto the floorboards. The white lines scratch over wiped away dust from incorrect markings underneath and the wizard groans in frustration as he mismarks a rune yet again. 

“What’s this spell?” Calcifer asks, peeking out between the pieces of wood, reluctant to draw himself from the cozy spot. Howl rocks back onto his heels but remains fixed on his current task. 

“Another protection ward. I can’t have a weak flank if we’re to live in a moving castle,” he insists, biting his lip as he thinks and compares the open book beside him to the patterns. “It takes all this precision and thinking and planning for every little thing. It’s worse than the homework Mrs. Penstemmon used to give.” 

“Tricky stuff, eh?” 

Howl snorts. “It’s almost impossible. How are you supposed to think of everything and write it in a spell? Seriously, taking into account the position of the _moon_ in case the light hits a side just right and exposes a weak point in the spell. Ridiculous.” 

“Is the human world not like this?” Calcifer asks, a genuine question. Howl has told him little of it, besides that it’s a dreary and wet place no fire demon should like to attend. 

“In my world, we have alarms that do all the work for you,” Howl answers, engaged in his obsessive marking again. “You don’t have to worry until something trips it. No magic involved for anything.” 

“But someone had to make the alarms, no?” 

“Suppose so, but at least I don’t have to do all the work myself back there. I swear on our bound souls, Calcifer, if this is the death of me and consequently you, may the afterlife be more merciful,” he mutters, wiping a chalky hand across his face and leaving deposits of white smudges on his skin. 

“I should hope so, this stressing would be the end of you if you weren’t heartless already,” Calcifer jokes, but falls quiet when he notices the pained concentration on Howl’s face. “I think it’s time for a break.” 

“Not now, I’m in the middle of this. Literally,” he says, gesturing to the spell wrapping around him. 

Spellwork, according to Howl, is a tangled mess of math and nonsense theories and when new to it, is worse than the oh-so-dreaded calculus he’s told the demon about in fits of complaint. With the way he pours over each inch of it with meticulous scrutiny, Calcifer fully believes that veins of magic like what Howl performs are something he’s been blessed to avoid. Howl’s perfectionism is also something Calcifer doesn’t envy in the slightest. It’s far easier to have magic naturally woven with the soul, even if it flares up with what the demon must believe are emotions, though on a lesser scale than the wizard’s rather severe ones. 

Having a heart has come with a number of complications, even if it’s not his own heart, by technicality. It seems to have a mind of its own though with no real purpose to its flutterings, or so it appears anyways. Calcifer both can and can’t feel it, a now intrinsic part of him and yet so foriegn with its workings. His only task is to hold onto it and help with the magic, not to worry about such things, but he can’t help some level of natural curiosity. 

“What’s it feel like?” Calcifer asks vaguely, letting the words spill before he can think too hard on it and their contract prevents him from discussing it further. 

“What’s what feel like? That’s awfully nonspecific you know,” Howl snaps, more than happy to display his annoyance at the interruption. 

“Being ‘Heartless Howl.’ ” 

“Am not _heartless_. That’s a cruel rumor I’ll have to mop up. Just— Y’know. I can’t talk about it, Calcifer,” he argues, waving one hand dismissively. He doesn’t need to bring up the pact for the both of them to know what he’s dodging. 

There’s a long pause before Howl huffs and finally turns to face the demon, a strange sad look in his glassy eyes that begs to be seen as he talks, though clearly he won’t lose the opportunity to express his emotions. “It feels empty. Like there’s this hole I will never be able to properly fill again. And strangely cold and warm at the same time. Happy now?” 

Calcifer scowls hard now, not sure whether to feel bad for what Howl is clearly trying to paint as the demon’s fault, being the holder of his heart and all, or if he’s just trying to cause a scene and overexaggerating as usual for the drama. But he feels oddly guilty about it, despite knowing the both of them entered the contract willingly, if not a little uninformed. And so he sits quietly and observes instead. 

Howl still returns to the spell, humming whatever odd melody it is under his breath with a new grimace pinned to his features, growing visibly more frustrated by the minute as he grinds the nub of chalk into the grain of the wood. Calcifer crackles with unease, knowing he really should intervene. 

“What’s that?” 

“What’s _what_?” Howl bristles, edging closer to losing his calm. But if there’s anything a fire demon knows, it’s controlling your flame; the boy has to learn it sooner or later, if he can learn it at all. Calcifer supposes he’ll find out either way. 

“What you’re humming.” 

“It’s this old song,” Howl replies, lifting a finger into the air and swinging it back and forth like a minstrel far too young for his orchestra but in command all the same. He breaks into somewhat awkward but confident song. “ _Mae'r baban yn y crud yn crio, A'r gath wedi sgrapo Joni bach…_ ”

“What tongue would that be? Never heard it.” Calcifer lets the tiniest bit of admiration creep into his words, not willing to give Howl the ego boost of showing his actual interest. 

“My language from back home. Welsh. Mum taught me it, they sing it at the rugby matches all the time.” The mention of rugby seems to perk him up, something Calcifer makes a note of. Perhaps one day he’ll ask about it because it’s come up more than once, though he has yet to understand a word of the wizard’s ramblings on the topic. Howl clears his throat and continues, less pitchy this time. “ _Sosban fach yn berwi ar y tân, Sosban fawr yn berwi ar y llawr…_ ”

“ ‘Sosban’ sounds awfully like ‘saucepan’ doesn’t it?” 

“You’ll be pleased to know you’ve translated it. Congrats. Let me know when you’ve learned the language and then we can have a proper conversation.” 

Calcifer scoffs but lets the sarcastic comments slide but something unusually warm in his heart— Howl’s heart — flickers insistently and he decides to pursue it. 

“You could teach me it. That song. That would be a start, wouldn’t it?” 

“You’re the fire demon who’s made a contract with me. There’s no need to try to get on my good side if you have plans to consume my heart one day, anyways.” Howl is bitter about this sentiment and the sharp words almost hurt, if Calcifer is able to hurt. Perhaps that comes with having a heart. 

“What if I just want to know? I can have motives other than evil, you know. Quite a few more pleasant ones, in fact,” Calcifer retorts, staring at the boy as if willing him to look back and meet him with that same intensity. “Besides, I think I deserve to know about you if we’re stuck like this indefinitely.” 

“You don’t actually want to learn ‘Sosban Fach,’ now do you?” Howl is ignoring half what Calcifer has said, though it’s better than the typical blatant disregard for all of it. But something softer and intrigued shows on his face. 

“Perhaps I do. What’s the harm done, anyways?” 

Howl considers this for a moment before his shoulders slump and he finally sets the chalk down on the floor. 

“You really want to learn it? I suppose the spell won’t go anywhere,” he sighs, picking himself up gingerly and dragging a stool to the hearth, and chuckling in a peculiar manner. “Sure! I’ll teach a fire demon a nonsense song not even from this realm! Why not! My life couldn’t be stranger if it wanted!” He laughs again, shaking his head and running one hand through his mop of mousy hair.

“Well?” 

“Oh, don’t you go ‘well’-ing me, too. Expectations, the lot of you.” A pause, chewing his lip thoughtfully. Calcifer isn’t sure he understands who the ‘lot’ is but at least Howl’s mood is shifting for the more pleasant. “If I had a guitar to join my melodious voice, this would be far better, so take it easy on me,” Howl warns, thumping a fist against his chest. “We’ll go line by line. _Mae bys Meri-Ann wedi brifo…_ ” 

“I’ll be honest with you, you’re going to have to break it down to the words, my friend.” The use of ‘friend’ had happened before he could even realize, but if Howl notices, he says nothing, tapping his foot on the floor to a silent beat and smiling amicably. 

Calcifer watches the wizard with an intrigued eye. For all his fits and frustrations and vanity and self-importance, the demon decidedly doesn’t feel so inclined to consume Howl’s heart, or any hearts, for that matter. There’s something so strangely _relatable_ that he senses in the wizard, as if seeing himself reflected back. But it must be the heart influencing this, because what demon in their right mind would take to the very human that binds them? He isn’t able to linger on the notion because Howl has snapped his fingers for attention. 

“Okay. Starts off easy. Even with your odd fire-tongue you should be able to make the sounds just fine…”

And so the night dissolves into terribly broken Welsh songs and poor singing accompanied by the crackling of an energetic fire, the spell not forgotten but at least put aside, unfillable holes a little more filled, this castle feeling maybe just a little less lonely and a little more like home by the time the dark has waxed into the early morn.

**Author's Note:**

> At least one more character practice fic to come, but in the meantime feel free to check my other posted works and I'll be back soon! Thanks for reading!


End file.
